Policy Insights

Policy Insight 103: Born Out of Necessity: A Debt Standstill for COVID-19

• Ugo Panizza Beatrice Weder di Mauro Chang-Tai Hsieh Mitu Gulati Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas Lee Buchheit Patrick Bolton
21 Apr 2020

Many low and middle income countries may face problems servicing their external debts while addressing the COVID-19 emergency. Urgent action is needed to prevent disorderly defaults and litigations. This Policy Insight describes a mechanism to implement a debt standstill which would free significant resources to cover some of the most immediate costs of the COVID-19 crisis.